The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) systems, and more particularly to neck coils for use in MRI systems.
MRI systems include a magnet, such as a superconducting magnet that generates a temporally constant (i.e., uniform and static) primary or main magnetic field. MRI data acquisition is accomplished by exciting magnetic moments within the primary magnetic field using radio-frequency (RF) coils. For example, in order to image a region of interest, the magnetic gradient coils are energized to impose a magnetic gradient to the primary magnetic field. RF transmit coils are then pulsed to create RF magnetic field pulses in a bore of an MRI scanner in order to acquire MR images of the region of interest using, for example, a phased array of RF receive coils. The resultant image that is generated shows the structure and function of the region of interest.
In MRI, neck imaging, in particular cervical spine (C-spine) and carotid artery imaging, are challenging due to the wide variability in people, especially in neck length and thickness, as the neck coils need to be positioned in close proximity to the neck region. However, even with receive coils that are patient centric, which are positionable on and around the person, and are made to accommodate a large percentage of the population, neck imaging is not optimized and may vary significantly from person to person.